The generation of pictures, text and other images is an important component in human communication. Images provide a permanent or semi-permanent mode of communication capable of relaying a great amount of information in a small timeframe.
Images are also one of the fundamental expressions of human creativity and may be used to convey emotions, thoughts, information and new forms of understanding.
Artists are continually adapting tools and techniques to create new types of images and modes of expression. For example, developments in computer animation technology have transformed film-making and graphic design.
Images may be generated on a piece of physical material (e.g. paper, canvas etc.) or via electronic displays. To generate images a person must manually draw or paint the image using a pencil, pen, brush or other drawing tool, or on an electronic display via a suitably programmed computer, a computer mouse and/or other input device. Other displays may use images captured via a camera or an electromagnetic image capture device or generated by an algorithm specifically designed to create images.
The control of computers via electronic display screens has rapidly developed from keyboards to include mice, pens, touch-screens and other input devices.
During interaction with a graphical user interface (GUI) such devices can be used to control the computer functions in addition to generating images if required.
An intrinsic requirement of such image generation systems is the need for manual input/manipulation by the user to draw an image.
The ‘quality’ of such an image is thus directly influenced by both the artist's talent and technical ability in manipulating the image.
Users whose hands (or other limbs) are occupied, constrained, restrained, paralyzed or disabled are clearly impeded from maneuvering a pen or interface device without assistance and are thus hampered from controlling a computer, or drawing an image.
To obviate the need for manual interaction with a movable control, various systems have been developed and generally fall into two categories, namely eye-tracking and bio-electrical sensor based systems.
Many known eye-tracking systems are capable of tracking the movement or orientation of a person's eyes to determine the direction of the user's gaze and to control a device accordingly, e.g. known weapon aiming control systems on aircraft may use eye-tracking systems to determine where a pilot is looking and, accordingly aim a slaved weapon.
Further prior art developments on basic eye-tracking systems have used eye-blinks, saccade and other movement to control functions of a computer to provide a control interface for paralyzed patients and the like.
Known bio-electrical control systems include Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) that include electrodes connected to portions of the brain to control devices such as cameras, artificial limbs, control systems or the like. Some BCIs may also receive external signals and convert to electrical impulses passed to the brain to simulate normal sensory systems.
For example, an artificial ear may include a microphone coupled to a processor linked to electrodes in the auditory parts of the brain of a user. The processor is capable of converting the microphone input to appropriate electrical signals to pass to the brain thereby providing the user with hearing ability.
Another form of bio-electrical control system is that used in the computer-based meditation system The Journey to Wild Divine by Smith.
The system devised by Smith uses bio-feedback (i.e. heart-rate and skin conductivity) from sensors placed on a user's fingers to solve problems and complete tasks set by a computer program and displayed on a screen. For example, one such task sets a heart-rate level, below which the user must lower their heart-rate to move onto the next task.
Another biofeedback system is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/028,902 (published as US 2002/0077534) by DuRousseau. The DuRousseau system uses biofeedback from multiple physiological sources to effect a control interface with a computer. The DuRousseau system however does not track where the user is looking.
An example of a system that combines the eye-tracking functionality and bio-electrical feedback is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,061 by Smyth, the entire contents of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Smyth describes the use of an eye-tracking system combined with an electronic bio-electric signal processor and digital computer to determine the viewer's eye-fixation and determine a mental decision from corresponding event-evoked cerebral electric potential. Thus, a user can control a device by using eye-tracking to set a point of interest or function and a threshold cerebral electric potential to act as a switch or control.
While the Smyth system provides an effective system for controlling machines or the like, Smyth does not describe any way in which the system could be used for generation or control of images.
It would thus be advantageous to provide an image generation system capable of generating or controlling an image by using an interface that does not require physical manual manipulation of a control device.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein; this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
It is acknowledged that the term ‘comprise’ may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term ‘comprise’ shall have an inclusive meaning—i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term ‘comprised’ or ‘comprising’ is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.